ESTIMATES OF PERSONAL INCOME FOR SMALL AREA, TIME SERIES, 2003-04 TO 2006-07

Released on 17 December 2009, Estimates of Personal Income for Small Areas, Time Series, 2003-04 to 2006-07 (cat. no. 6524.0.55.002) contains estimates of the sources of personal income, including Wages and salaries, Own unincorporated business, Investments, Superannuation and annuities and Other income. The data includes the number of persons, total income and average income from each of those sources.

Examples of the data available are:

Income from Investments was the second largest income source in 2006-07, representing around one tenth of personal income ($53 billion). The largest source of income, comprising 78% of the total, was from Wages and salaries ($392 billion).

The regions with the highest average Own unincorporated business income in 2006-07 were in the Perth Statistical Local Areas of Peppermint Grove ($71,647) and Cottesloe ($69,795).

In 2006-07, outside of the capital cities, seven of the ten regions with the largest average Investment incomes were in Queensland, with the largest in the Statistical Local Area of Main Beach-South Stradbroke in Queensland ($25,803).

The publication's main features presents an overview of the sources of personal income for Australia, highlighting some of the variations in growth rates. It examines regional growth and decline in sources of income, with a specific look at Own unincorporated business income as a particular case of regional variation.

Data for Statistical Divisions, Statistical Subdivisions, Statistical Local Areas and Local Government Areas can be found in the Downloads tab of this release.

WAGE AND SALARY EARNER STATISTICS FOR SMALL AREAS, TIME SERIES, 2003-04 TO 2006-07

Released on 12 March 2010, Wage and Salary Earner Statistics for Small Areas, Time Series, 2003-04 to 2006-07 (cat. no. 5673.0.55.003) contains detailed data relating to Wage and salary earners. This is a more detailed breakdown of the data for Wage and salary earners released in 'Estimates of Personal Income for Small Areas', discussed above. Files containing cross-classifications by age, sex, occupation and income for Statistical Divisions, Statistical Subdivisions, Statistical Local Areas and Local Government Areas can be found in the Downloads tab of this release. This product contains a main features which illustrates how the data can be used to explore the characteristics of regions at the small area level. A summary of key findings for each state and territory at the small area level is also provided.

In Australia, average income from Wages and salaries grew at an average annual growth rate of 4.5% from 2003-04 to 2006-07, reaching $42,081 in 2006-07.

Table 1 below shows an example of the Statistical Local Area data available. The table shows the highest average Wage and salary income Statistical Local Areas in 2006-07. Nine of the top ten Statistical Local Areas were in Sydney.

Table 1: Top ten average Wage and salary incomes 2006-07

Rank

Statistical Local Area

Average Wage and salary income

1

Mosman (A) (NSW)

$106,397

2

Woollahra (A) (NSW)

$85,225

3

Hunters Hill (A) (NSW)

$77,798

4

North Sydney (A) (NSW)

$72,939

5

Ku-ring-gai (A) (NSW)

$71,371

6

Leichhardt (A) (NSW)

$68,703

7

Lane Cove (A) (NSW)

$67,777

8

Willoughby (C) (NSW)

$67,687

9

Manly (A) (NSW)

$66,365

10

Bayside (C) Brighton (Vic.)

$66,283

Future updates

The above data is sourced from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), using aggregated and confidentialised Personal Income Tax data. The data is obtained from the ATO 18 months after the end of the financial year. This time period is necessary to ensure that ABS receives a comprehensive data set, since the vast majority of forms are lodged within an eighteen month time period after the end of the financial year. The next update of this data will be for the 2007-08 financial year, and data is currently being requested by ABS such that it can be processed for release later in 2010.